Doc Holds Nats Scoreless for Four, Phils Win 6-3

Roy Halladay scattered two hits over four innings, striking out two in four innings of work as the Phillies beat the Nats 6-3.

During the game, Todd Zolecki reported that Delmon Young is aiming for a mid-April return. Zolecki insinuated that Dom Brown is likely to start the year as the team’s right fielder and then move to left once Young is ready to return.

The Good

Obviously, this begins with Doc. Doc absolutely handcuffed the Nats today. Brown had two more hits and Tommy Joseph went 3 for 4, raising his average to .462. Antonio Bastardo, Justin De Fratus, and Jake Diekman combined for three scoreless innings, scattering two hits and striking out five.

Areas of Opportunity

Chad Durbin was really the only Phil to struggle today. Durbin gave up three earned in one inning of work.

I realize this comment may be totally off the wall but watching Doc struggle in the heat of the Summer made me wonder whether he has a hydration problem that no one has picked up on.
My son always makes sure he’s well-hydrated when he exercises. yet two years ago, while in basic training (where they make sure everyone is hydrated) he felt fine after a day’s activity. He returned to the barracks and promptly fainted. His kidney’s had begun to shut down from a combo of heat and exercise and he had to be pulled from the daily routine long enough to prevent him from graduating with his class.
To different degrees, it’s not all that uncommon a condition.
Sorry, but it popped into my mind one day as I caught a close-up of Doc’s pained and sweat-drenched face last summer.
Like my son, Doc has a strong work ethic dedicated and likely pushes his own limits for the good of the team.

Yes, I suppose the Phillies’ medical team would have caught a problem, but then again, four separate sports doctors allegedly gave their blessings for the Bynum Trade.

While I’m on the subject, I wonder whether Ryan Howard has ever had his eyes tested to see if there’s a correction needed that might help him pick up lefties better than he does?

Okay, that’s the end of my unsolicited and amateur medical opinions for the day. Promise.

Not that I’m positioned to qualify as a critic of Danny Knobler, but suffice to say he seems to have a good sense of baseball. But I can’t help but wonder if he sought a second opinuon, or radar reading before running with the story. Not that it’s a big deal. I still want to see Doc’s next spring starts before really feeling strongly on where he’s at. Not that it matters.

“We’re all kind of going through that time in spring when you’re overcoming a little bit of dead arm and your body is tired,” Halladay said. “Those first few weeks of spring training catch up to you. I feel good with that in mind.”

Amaro mistake #242
Getting rid of Raul Ibanez, and even though its hard to believe we actually downgraded from him, Raul actually outperformed Mayberry even playing 19 less games than him. Not only did Amaro not adequately deal with personnel replacement for LF in 2012, he has also not dealt with it for 2013. As a matter of fact if you think it cant get any worse than Mayberry last season, it just might.

Re: ” Dom Brown is likely to start the year as the team’s right fielder and then move to left once Young is ready to return.”

Could Delmon be in possession of pictures of Ruben in a compromising position with a sheep?

Why else would management want Delmon Young in right while simultaneously discombobulating Dom Brown…again? I mean, we’re not talk Roberto Clemente when were talking Delmon Young… or are we? I mean, I don’t think Clemente had right sewed up this tight before playing his first inning of his first spring training with the Pirates.
And Clemente didn’t come to training fat and off major surgery.

Really, I hate being so down on Delmon.
I know I must be sounding like a broken record and I’m truly sorry, but…

This quoted exchange in Todd Zolecki’s column is symptomatic of what it is I don’t like about Young:

Ruben: “-…when he’s ready to play in Philadelphia, we feel he’s ready to contribute to our club.”

But Young said he hasn’t been champing at the bit to get into Grapefruit League games.

“No, not really,” he said. “It’s cold and it’s only March 6. I’m not anxious at all.”

Regardless, Young is going to play right field and only right field whenever he joins the Phillies.

That is his preference.

That is the Phillies’ preference, too.

“Because he’s not good in left field,” Amaro explained. “And he doesn’t want to play there. He’s a much better right fielder as he came through the system in Tampa Bay. He played center and right. He was a plus defender in right, and because of the circumstances, got away from that in other organizations. He’s much more suited for right field.”

First off, it makes me uncomfortable when a player isn’t chomping at the bit to play in any weather short of a level 5 hurricane – especially one who is new to the team and coming off an injury. Does that sound somewhat less than enthusiastic to anyone else here?

Second, Young’s not playing left because he doesn’t want to play left?
What if Dom Brown said the same to Ruben? I assume they’d trade him in a New York minute.
And when Ruben says Young was a “plus” fielder, did he mean to say “plus-sized” fielder?

If you look at Young’s career versus expectations, it lends toward some degree of criticism and disappointment. That’s how I’d define him in attempted objectivity. If you read the views and warnings of a fair number of fans and blogging types, it’s the end of the world.

My own position is we’ll see what the guy can do. The shortcomins are a source of concern, but when Hall of Famer Pat Gillick is involved in a personnel decision, it’s not a bad idea to at least wait and see how it works out.

There’s plenty of time to be down on the guy. I wouldn’t be too concerned with his saying he’s not too anxious to play right now. When he’s ready, the judgement should be on if he plays hard.

To wbramh: Apparently you missed a portion of Amaro’s comments about Young: “I’m just hopeful in the early part of April or the middle of April he’s playing in games enough so we can start to really evaluate and work on that part of his game. We’ve talked about it before. We’ve got to make sure the guy can play well defensively for us to have him in our outfield.”

That doesn’t sound to me like Delmon is any kind of a lock for any position.

I also wouldn’t be too concerned about Young’s lack of anxiety. It IS cold, it IS early, and he DOES have a major injury. Why should he worry needlessly about something doctors have forbidden him to do anyway?

No, I didn’t miss any portion of Ruben’s comments – I just interpret them differently from you and perhaps others here.

Delmon is not a rookie so Ruben must already know all about his defensive capabilities which means he’s only concerned with Delmon’s defense post surgery – and that makes more sense. To me, it also suggests an ambulatory Delmon Young was always going to be a lock for right field.

As for Young’s comments, I’m sorry, but maybe it was just a bad choice of words to suggest he wasn’t anxious to get out on the field and play ball, but I think most professionals would have issued some frustration at not being out there with their team mates even if they believed it wasn’t a good idea to play in chilly weather. So his comments continue to rub me the wrong way. I know Delmon has not been terribly careful with his words in the past, but to the best of my knowledge he was sober during the interview.

Frank, Howard is going to limp like that for a little while. It takes time to get his natural gait back. I believe Amaro talked about it earlier in the spring. Probably won’t notice it come April or May. But perhaps since he’s so big he’ll also have a slight hitch in his giddyup as Wheels would say.

So, in words, he’s always been below average, even when he first came up. But 2011 was his worst year to that point, and 2012 was, not surprisingly, still worse.

To put the 14% in perspective, every other qualifying player (i.e. with 502+ PAs) in MLB was at at least 18%, with the lone exception of Justin Morneau at 12%. The lowest qualifier in the NL was Miguel Montero at 24%.

You guys missed a bit of a story from yesterday… Strasburg plunked Utley in the leg and then the next inning Halladay motioned to Utley and proceeded to throw behind one of the Nats hitters (with two outs). Utley was quoted telling Halladay that he needed to throw at more batters this year… love to see Halladay stick up for his teammates and it seems like there’s a nice healthy rivalry brewing between us and the Nats. It will be a great season.